


The GOAT

by seinnnnnn (jayjay4750)



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Anthropomorphic, Friendship, Furry, Gen, Hockey, Mystery, Night Howlers, Sports, Tundratown, Wolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-05-30 21:30:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6441499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jayjay4750/pseuds/seinnnnnn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ace Wolfburne is Zootopia's greatest hockey player of all time. Upon the emergence of another Night Howler case, a certain trauma suddenly turns Ace into a key witness in the case, forcing him to assist officers Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde to unveil the mastermind. The problem here is that unwanted guests are now falling into the mix. Who can be salvaging those flowers this time?</p><p>**THIS STORY HAS BEEN REWRITTEN AS "ROOKIE," AVAILABLE ON MY PROFILE**</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Postgame Fiasco

**Author's Note:**

> So, much of the reason I did this was to expand on culture in Zootopia. It's essentially the modern world with animals instead of humans, and here in the modern world, sports are kind of a big deal. Zootopia already has pop music from Gazelle and a ridiculous addiction to technology (like us!). Plus, if you've seen the movie, there's the group of animals in the naturalist club playing volleyball.
> 
> I thought, why can't athletics also be something in Zootopia? I decided to take it upon myself to expand the world into that field, while at the same time developing Nick and Judy.
> 
> I picked hockey for two reasons. One, Tundratown is my personal favorite district in Zootopia. Two, it's easy to work around the differences between each animal in Zootopia because there are a lot of roles to be filled. If I had picked something like basketball, it would turn out just as how the volleyball bit turned out. Hockey isn't even my favorite sport (that would be baseball, but baseball is too slow of a game for most peoples' tastes).
> 
> With that said, enjoy and please comment if you have any comments, suggestions, or if I just got something completely wrong.

 

"Parking duty," Bogo teased.

Judy and Nick exchanged glances, and a smug grin appeared on Nick's face as he turned back to face Chief Bogo.

"How many times have you hit us with this joke?" asked Nick. "I've honestly lost count."

"It's in the daily routine," explained the chief.

The chief switched to a more serious tone as he went on to assign the small duo to a more serious task.

"Anyway, we've got several reports of animals gone savage the past day. I bet you couldn't guess what we're working with again."

The two exchanged glances again. They had just solved one of these cases a few months ago! There was no way another breakout was happening already. "Night Howlers?" guessed Judy.

"Precisely. All the animals are in containment right now as the Night Howler antidote is being delivered to them, but…" Bogo paused for a moment, "we don't really have any leads pointing to possible suspects. Bellwether's still behind bars, in case you're wondering."

"Can you show us pictures of everyone affected?" requested Nick.

Chief Bogo handed them a stack of folders, each containing a single victim's name, occupation, residence, and a photo. For now, the two were only interested in the photos. Nick and Judy went through all the faces, first looking for anyone they recognized.

There were no familiar faces, so Nick then decided to look for any trends in the pictures, reading left to right. "Polar bear, predator. Fox, predator. Lion, predator. Jaguar, predator…" he whispered to himself.

Then Nick reached the last file and viewed the photo: one of a seemingly joyful bunny hanging around Downtown Zootopia. Nick turned his head to make sure he had seen it right—he didn't want to misread any of the victims' pictures.

"Bunny, prey."

Nick gave Judy a worried look. It was obvious that neither of them had expected to see prey on the list of victims. "This is different," said Judy.

"You think?" Nick retorted. "Geez, thanks for stating the obvious."

"That's why I'm putting you two on this," said Bogo. "You've solved it once; I don't see why you can't solve another one," he said before leaving the room. The case was up to the two of them now.

Nick collected all the folders and started toward the door after Bogo. "Back to square one, Hopps?" he asked.

Judy followed behind him. "Not quite," she said. "I'm not going to have to force you into helping me again a million times over."

Nick just shrugged. "Eh."

"Anyway, I think we should go over all of these before we leave. Pick a victim and trace everything toward a suspect."

"Sure." Nick simpered, splitting the pile in half and handing one to Judy. "Study up."

Reading the files only took a few minutes for them to finish. There were basically no leads in any of them, and they were mostly uninteresting for Nick and Judy to sift through. The last one that was in Nick's pile managed to grab his attention the most, at an astronomically higher level than the others did. Not even the bunny's profile that Judy had matched up to the one in Nick's hand.

"Koslov?" questioned Nick as he read the name. He placed the profile in front of Judy for her to read.

"Koslov, polar bear, Tundratown…" Judy muttered to herself.

"Mr. Big's henchman got shot up with Night Howlers," mentioned Nick. "That could be the best start we've ever gotten off to! Come on!"

Nick hurried out of the room, leaving Judy a bit puzzled for a moment. It took her a while for her to catch up to the fox. By the time she got to him, Nick was waiting at the front desk chatting with Clawhauser.

"So, to Mr. Big?" asked Judy.

Nick nodded, and the duo left the ZPD, leaving Clawhauser to attend to a weasel at the front desk.

* * *

"Nothing," stated Mr. Big.

Nick's eyes widened. "What do you mean nothing? He's your best guy on the job here! He wouldn't just go running off to get shot by some lunatic running around illegally and carrying a Night Howler serum!"

"Actually, he did. Went off to pick someone up from the limo place yesterday and never came back here since," the shrew explained. "Anyway, that's the most help I can be for now."

Mr. Big dismissed the pair, and the duo left immediately with drooping ears, since they had no reason to stay. Nick began looking through the folders again for any other savage Tundratown residents, but came up empty.

Judy decided to take notes as they left, noting that Mr. Big had no idea on Koslov's status. She searched her mind for anyone else they knew who had any connection with Koslov, but other than Mr. Big's other henchmen, she came up empty.

"Bummer," mentioned Judy.

"Who else from the last time can we ask?" queried Nick. "I know there's Otterton, but I doubt they'd want to be bothered about Night Howlers right now… you still got his profile lying around somewhere?"

"No, why would I?" answered Judy. "I never thought I'd actually need it again in the case that another Night Howler breakout occurs."

Nick snapped in disappointment, still thinking about anyone who might be of some help. "Manchas the limo driver who went savage on us… Rainforest District, sure. But seeing how skeptical he was the first time, I think he's just another guy we don't want to bother."

"Well, there's always Bellwether," Judy suggested.

"Never."

"Well, then, what are your other suggestions?"

"Uh…" Nick sifted through all the files of affected mammals, looking for someone to latch onto. "Well, we're already here in Tundratown, so…"

* * *

" _Shoot it!"_ the voice echoed in his head.

Ace Wolfburne left the arena with a wide, toothy grin flashing across his face as he lugged all his equipment around. Having grown up and lived his entire life in Tundratown, the artificially frigid environment didn't bother him one bit.

The wolf was smiling because he had, for the second straight game, scored a game-winning goal in the overtime period. While he had been reluctant to shoot the puck, a simple call from one of his teammates on the ice allowed him to spot an open lane toward the goal. Getting the puck past a slower polar bear goalie wasn't such a difficult task for him to accomplish.

The bag he was carrying weighed him down just a little bit, but it wasn't enough that he would have to stop for a break on the way home. Besides, he made this trek between the arena and his home all the time carrying his hockey gear, so this walk home was something he was used to doing.

The sun was completely down, and all the shops and services had closed by now, which denied him of any public transportation home. That meant he wouldn't be able to enjoy a warm, cozy heater in a car. That would have to wait until he finished the ten-minute walk home.

Ace's ears managed to catch onto several pairs of feet trudging in the snow. At first, he guessed it was one of the spectators from his hockey match that night, but he quickly dismissed that thought. In the past few years that he had been doing this, no one had ever come around to this part of Tundratown this late at night.

Curiosity managed to take over the wolf, and he grabbed a stick from his bag as he went toward the noise to investigate. That way if he ever needed to defend himself, he had something other than just his paws.

Several whispers caught his ears—there were just two voices.

"Alright, so the wolverine didn't work," said a feminine voice. "That crosses out a fourth of our victims and… that takes care of everyone from Tundratown."

"Fantastic," said another, this one more masculine. "There goes a whole day right there. And the longer we wait, the worse it gets. Look, I can bet you at least one other person in Zootopia got shot with Night Howler today."

Ace managed to track the voices down—they were moving, so it took him a while to catch up to them. The wolf managed to end up behind a bunny and a fox, and he was able to make out the ZPD uniforms even through the lack of any light.

The problem was that Ace wasn't sure if he should have believed their uniforms, since only bigger mammals worked at the ZPD. Seeing a bunny and a fox in one of those uniforms definitely caught him off guard. The car they stood beside looked pretty convincing, though.

A distant howl found its way through the wind and snow, interrupting Ace's train of thought. He fled behind cover and blocked it out of his mind. Clearly, he didn't want to start howling like all the other wolves in Tundratown were about to do. He watched the pair through a small opening, and he could barely hear the pair over the howling.

"Oh, come on, really? Wolves howling at this time of night? You're going to wake up the neighbors, you!" the fox complained, shaking a fist in the air. "Great. Now we're going to have to deal with howling pounding at our ears for the rest of the night, or at least until we get out of Tundratown."

"Fantastic times two."

Ace decided that the matter was something that didn't concern the likes of him, so he decided to get up and start back home, still blocking his ears out from the howling. He continued to eavesdrop on the duo, though.

"Uh… then why don't we think about Koslov more?" asked the fox. "Mr. Big said that he went to pick someone up from his limo place."

"So…" the bunny trailed off, not knowing where the fox was going with this.

Ace stopped. If there were any matters concerning Tundratown's crime boss and millionaire shrew, then it was definitely something to be concerned about. He continued to block out the howling from the other wolves and turned back to spy on the bunny and the fox, who haven't noticed his presence yet. He still clutched the stick in his hands with his equipment still slung across his back.

"Let's go there," the fox suggested. "Again, no need for a warrant. Maybe we can find something to track down Koslov."

The howling stopped. That caught the attention of both the duo and Ace, as the howling of many wolves was replaced with an eerie silence of the night. The wind whistled every now and then, but it was completely silent otherwise.

That seemed to frighten Ace even more. Wolves don't just stop howling after this little time. While he knew that, it was clear to him that the bunny and fox didn't.

"Listen to that. They stopped howling. Thank God for that," said the fox.

Ace knew that something was wrong. He raised his stick up and took on a defensive stance, turning his head in search of anything in the night. He inhaled deeply, ignoring the sharp, cold air as the wind whipped at his face even more.

"Hold on, Nick, I think I heard something," said the bunny.

That made Ace freeze in place, forcing him to split his attention between the cops and the wolves that had all stopped howling. He raised his stick even higher.

"Judy! Get back here for now!"

Something jumped out at Ace, and he instinctively raised his stick and started swinging it at the figure that had lunged at him. After a few seconds of gathering himself, Ace managed to figure out that it was another wolf who was attacking him, and he was relieved to find out that is was one he didn't know.

"WHAT?!" Ace screamed out loud.

Obviously, both Judy and Nick heard the little scuffle that was going on nearby, and they rushed to the site to find Ace trying to fend off the other wolf with a stick. Ace only managed to get a few swings in before the other wolf managed to catch it in his jaw and yank it forward from his hands. The stick went flying across the street, landing with a 'poof' in the snow.

The move left Ace stunned, and he instantly went with his gut instinct.

He bailed.

Ace took off in the direction of Judy and Nick, ignoring the pair as he bolted by the two. Judy and Nick watched the sentient wolf pass by them, and then started fleeing after him upon seeing the savage wolf giving chase.

"Oh man, this is not what we want to get into on day one of this case!" Judy screamed as she started sprinting away. "You had to jinx it Nick, did you?"

Nick wasn't that far behind her, and both were a safe distance from the savage wolf for now.

Meanwhile, Ace just kept running. He had ditched his hockey gear earlier, though he did plan on heading back to the scene in order to retrieve at least his stick. He wasn't at all confident about fighting anyone—or anything, for that matter—with his paws.

Nick and Judy managed to scramble up to the top of a shop, which they were aware was something that their wolf aggressor wouldn't be able to climb in its savage state. They figured that this one had just been shot with a Night Howler serum, since those who had previously been shot were already in containment.

That had to mean that whoever was running around shooting animals with the Night Howler serum had to be somewhere nearby! If only they could get down and start looking for the culprit without having a savage wolf attack them.

A few seconds later, Ace realized that the savage wolf was no longer chasing him. He decided to backtrack and head toward the area where the wolf initially attacked him.

 _Probably not the greatest idea_ , Ace thought. There was a good chance that the wolf was still there and would jump at him the second they make eye contact.

"We've got a case of a savage wolf in Tundratown," radioed Judy. "Possibly shot just now."

"Great," said Nick. "Now we just have to hold tight and wait for someone to get here. You know, I'm really thinking that we should start carrying around a tranquilizer… or at least something so we don't get into these kinds of situations."

"Well, we can discuss it once we get back in the morning. Right now, though, I'm just wondering where that other wolf went." Judy decided to look farther out in search of the other wolf.

"He's probably run off home," suggested Nick. "Best choice for him—hopefully no one shoots him too." He continued to watch down below as the savage wolf paced himself back and forth, growling as he kept his head down.

That moment, Ace peeked out from behind a building, eyes on his gear that he had left in the snow. He breathed deeply, searching around for the savage wolf, which should be somewhere in between him and his gear.

Ace decided to step out and begin sneaking toward his gear, first heading toward his stick. He still couldn't see the savage wolf, but he was able to see the two officers on top of the shop. The wolf must have been on the other side.

Nick managed to spot Ace sneaking toward his stick. "Oh, what is he doing?" he asked. "He really shouldn't have come back here."

The fox and the still-sentient wolf made eye contact for the first time, while Judy decided to keep her eyes on the savage wolf beneath them. Ace held a paw up to his muzzle as he bent down to pick up his stick, as if telling Nick to keep quiet.

"How long do they take to get here?" muttered Judy.

Ace only had to walk a few steps to reach the rest of his hockey gear. He picked it up, slung it over his back, and scurried off toward home, making sure to stay as silent as possible to avoid attracting the savage wolf.

"So he came back to get his hockey things," observed Nick as Ace disappeared behind a building. "And now he's headed home. That's good." He turned away, intending to watch the single savage wolf waiting beneath them.

Several growls stopped him in his tracks as he crossed the roof of the building. Nick gritted his teeth out of anxiety, and he turned around to find Ace backing across the street away from a pack of savage wolves. He gripped his stick with both hands and moved his eyes between all the wolves gone savage, ready to take a swing in case any of them jumped at him.

Nick's jaw and ears dropped as his breath left him. "Or not."

"Fantastic times three," said Judy. "Now we're not only dealing with just one savage wolf, but many. They might as well shoot up every wolf in Tundratown while they're at it."

"Seems like that," said Nick. "I'm wondering how they haven't gotten him yet."

Ace just continued to back away from the pack of wolves that were closing the distance between them. _Come on, what did I do to get myself into this little pickle?_

Soon, though, Ace heard the sound of several engines approaching. His ears perked up upon picking up the noise, and he began to wonder what someone would be doing driving out in this part of Tundratown this late at night.

Judy and Nick were able to see more of the area since they were on top of a building. When Judy spotted the lights approaching their location, she cracked a smile. "They're here!" she notified Nick.

That was when one of the wolves in the pack decided to lunge at Ace. Since Ace was still paying attention to the sound of several vehicles headed his way, he barely had any time to react and bring his stick up to fend off his attacker. When he realized what was going on, Ace immediately turned away and started running again. This time, the wolves in the pack chased after him.

Judy and Nick saw this as a good time to jump down, not caring about the fact that there was still one wolf waiting for them below. That one would go to rejoin the pack sometime anyway, if they could find the pack.

A wave of light washed over Ace as he continued to flee from the pack of wolves. He wasn't sure how close they were to him, and he didn't dare to look back for fear that he'd slow down or trip.

One of the savage wolves jumped onto Ace, clawing at him as both of them fell into the snow, the assailant on top. Ace could only use his stick to block the several bit attempts, which he struggled to do.

The figure above him suddenly went flying off him, freeing Ace. This allowed Ace to stand up and turn to face the rest of the pack. Nets flew out from the direction the light was coming from, and with each hit, one pack member promptly ended up entangled in a net. A dart quickly followed each target.

Ace's eyes widened as he turned to face his rescuers, but then his eyes instantly narrowed into a squint when he found himself staring directly into the headlights of several vehicles. He looked away for a moment and raised an arm to cover his eyes.

"One more!" Judy called as she made her way toward everyone. The last savage wolf bounded after her, though she didn't seem frightened at all.

The bunny ducked as one last net went soaring over her head. The savage wolf behind her also stopped, and the tranquilizer dart soon followed.

Nick popped out from behind a building, having finally managed to catch up with Judy. He spotted the pack of wolves and Ace, and noticed that all the snarling and growling had stopped. "Okay, so is that everything?"


	2. Right on Our Doorstep

 

Chief Bogo stepped into the light, along with some other members in the police department. "Put them in the truck. I want the antidote delivered to them and every other mammal gone savage immediately."

By now, Ace's eyes had already adapted to the sudden change in lighting, and he was able to put his arm down. "What happened here?" he asked.

"That's what _we_ came here to find out," replied Bogo.

Judy wasted no time to begin an interrogation. "Wolf. Start talking," she ordered, pointing a carrot pen at him.

Ace was still skeptical on whether or not he was dealing with the real ZPD, but upon observing the rest of the animals he was facing, he found it to be more believable. Seeing a buffalo, bears, tigers, and an elephant in the bunch allowed him to believe that he _was_ dealing with the real ZPD.

He held his paws up and started backing away from Judy, though he did keep a good grip on his stick with one paw. "I- I don't know what's going on. Honestly."

"You know, I find it suspicious that you seem to be the only wolf in this part of Tundratown who hasn't gone savage," Judy continued.

"Oh. Powerful word," Ace mentioned. "I'll admit that you do have a point." As he spoke, Ace began to grow uneasy not because of the fact that this bunny believed he was a suspect, but because of something else that he couldn't put a claw on at the moment. "Search me if you wish, but you're not going to find anything suspicious." He set his gear down on the ground, but kept his stick.

Chief Bogo made eye contact with two polar bears in the mix, and he sent them to search Ace's bag. Ace drifted away from his belongings for a moment in an attempt to find out what was wrong.

"So, Night Howlers did this," said Nick as he approached the sentient wolf. "What did you do to get yourself into this mess?"

"I was on my way home from a game, then you and that bunny happened. Someone in Tundratown goes 'savage' according to Miss Carrots, and… well, I think you know the story from there," said Ace. As he explained himself, he did not make any eye contact with Nick. Instead he focused his eyes on the dark.

Obviously, Nick noticed this and moved himself next to Ace. "Something wrong?"

Ace tilted his head and squinted. "I think something's moving out there," he said.

"Oh, sure. The curiosity of a wolf strikes again," muttered Nick. "I'm guessing there's nothing out there to be so skeptical about."

"Uh… no, it's not that, although sure, we are a bit curious," admitted Ace. "But I do genuinely feel that something is moving out there, and that there's someone after us."

"Well, wolf, if you're talking about some maniac shooting everyone with a Night Howler serum, then you'd be right. But since he just got every wolf on this side of Tundratown (except for you, of course), I doubt he'd still be here," said Nick. "Criminals usually don't stay in the same place for that long."

Ace disregarded everything Nick said after he mentioned Night Howlers. He still felt that he saw something moving in the dark.

Completely out of instinct, Ace snapped and positioned his stick in front of Nick. Less than a split second later, he felt something collide with the thing. This time, though, he was ready for an impact, and didn't allow the handle to leave his paws.

Seeing the black and white stick appear so suddenly left Nick bewildered. When Ace flipped his stick over to see what had hit it, his jaw dropped. "I think I just saved a life," said Ace.

Nick had to get a good look at what landed on the stick in order to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He wanted to reach out and touch it to be sure, but he drew his paw back in fear of what might happen. "Yep, that's Night Howler, all right. You got some like, sixth sense or something?"

Ace squinted at the blue splatter that landed on his stick. "Huh. I didn't know I could do that. Luck, maybe."

"Alright," announced Chief Bogo, "there's nothing in his bag. The wolf's fine." He turned to face all the other wolves that were currently incapacitated. "I can't say the same about these other ones, though."

"You know any of them?" asked Nick.

Ace closely observed the other wolves as the workers from the ZPD loaded them up into the vehicles. "A couple. None that I share a close connection with and is that…"

Ace trailed off as a certain wolf in the group caught his eye. His jaw dropped when he confirmed the identity of that certain wolf.

"You found someone?" asked Nick.

Ace just sighed and turned away from the victims. Without saying a word, he grabbed his hockey gear off the ground and turned his stick in to Chief Bogo. He had left Nick hanging without an answer.

"What's this?" queried the chief.

"Someone tried to shoot your fox just now," explained Ace. "Got lucky or something, but whoever it was hit my stick instead. You might want to take it if it helps you guys with… whatever's going on here."

Chief Bogo nodded. "Go home, kid. You're in the clear. Plus, it's not safe for you to be out here right now."

Ace just nodded. "Yes, sir."

The wolf didn't let anything show—though he only appeared to be slightly stunned about the incident, he was upset. Upset because of what had just happened to all the other wolves. Why was he the only one who didn't fall victim to Night Howlers?

He was probably just the luckiest wolf to have ever lived. Maybe all the others were in a pack while he happened to be alone and on his way home from the hockey game. For now, that was what he assumed.

He didn't hesitate to make a mental note to travel to the police department in the morning. This whole incident would surely be among the headlines around Zootopia later, so he didn't worry about missing a practice he already knew was cancelled. He decided that he should send his coach a heads-up note that he would be absent anyway.

Lugging the rest of his gear on his back, he headed home.

* * *

The first wave of Night Howler antidote came in from Dr. Badger that morning, and soon all of the 24 initial victims were released back into Zootopia. They also managed to have enough left to satisfy the needs of all the wolves that had gone feral the night before.

"This bothers me," admitted Judy.

"Oh, thanks for the reassurance, because I didn't know that," replied Nick sarcastically. "Anyway, no one could get anything out of any of the victims. Koslov's gone back to Mr. Big… uh, I still think Emmitt Otterton or Manchas is our best bet."

"Yeah… no and no," Judy refused. "What about that wolf from last night?"

"Well, sure, we can go to him if you want to kill another few hours in Tundratown."

Just then, a wolf burst through the front door and stomped up to the front desk to meet Clawhauser, who was fully immersed in listening to Gazelle's latest album. Clawhauser didn't even notice the wolf until he knocked on the desk three times.

"Or he can just appear right on our doorstep on this fine morning," Nick said, sidestepping away from view.

"Uh… are you okay?" asked Clawhauser. He hesitated a bit as he spoke.

"No. That's why I'm here," said the wolf. "Look, can I speak with someone here, maybe the chief or someone of the like? My brother and a bunch of other wolves fell victim to what some guy called 'Night Howlers' last night, and I'm trying to find what's going on and why _I_ didn't get shot."

"Yep, it's him," confirmed Nick.

"Oh!" Clawhauser unplugged the earbuds from his phone. "You should listen to this section of Gazelle's new album. It's her best one yet!"

"I've already listened to it, but it's kind of difficult for me to enjoy something like this considering the amount of stress I'm under right now," replied the wolf.

No response from Clawhauser this time.

"Look, I'm sorry. My name is Ace Wolfburne. I was on my way home last night when a pack of wolves-gone-savage, which happened to include a couple of friends and my _brother_ , attacked me. Someone suggested Night Howlers. Luckily, your guys arrived before I got hurt, so I need to speak with the guy in charge of the case, or your chief."

Judy and Nick decided to step forward. "That would be us," said Judy.

Ace was genuinely surprised to find out that of all the options they had at the ZPD, they would put a bunny and a fox in charge of this case.

"Sure," said Nick. He only reached up to Ace's knees. Holding out a paw to Ace, he said, "Name's Nick Wilde. I think we met last night, but we never got to have any proper introductions. We caught your name while you were speaking with Clawhauser, by the way."

"Judy Hopps," stated Judy. "I can tell you're kind of wondering why they put the two of us in charge of such an important case… well, it's because we solved the first one."

That made a lot more sense to Ace. He knew of the original Night Howler case, but he never got too involved in the countless debates between predator and prey. It was the offseason at the time, so he didn't really have much of a reason to leave home that much and therefore was hardly ever exposed to the predator-prey animosity that lasted for a few weeks. Constant news updates on TV did allow him to keep track of the situation, though.

"How'd you know?" asked Ace.

"It's written all over your face."

Nick smirked. "She got you there," he muttered to himself.

"Oh, so you guys are taking over?" interrupted Clawhauser. "Well, then, I've got to… I've got to go real quick."

The three of them watched as Clawhauser fled from the foyer. "Anyway," started Judy, "since you're already here, would you mind answering us a few questions?"

"Hopps! Wilde! I need you in my office!" Chief Bogo's voice echoed in the foyer. He browsed around ground level in search for the two cops, and found the two standing next to the wolf. "Oh, you're busy? Well, then just see me after you two are done."

Bogo turned back and headed upstairs to his office. His sudden appearance and disappearance left everyone in the foyer stunned, though most of them shrugged it off and continued with whatever they were previously doing.

"Sure. I'm fine answering anything you need to ask me," said Ace.

Judy decided to waste no time at all and jumped straight to it. "What were you doing that night before the attack?"

"What, he didn't tell you yet?" Ace motioned to Nick.

Judy shook her head.

"I'm a pro hockey player. I was on my way home late from a game the night of the attack," explained Ace.

"Ah, so _the_ Ace Wolfburne. Thought so, needed to confirm," said Nick.

"You know him?" asked Judy.

"No. Ice hockey? It's not my forte. But when Pawpsicle production puts you in Tundratown for a really long time, you're bound to hear a lot of names," explained the fox.

"Anyway," continued Nick, "what else do you know about last night?"

Ace just shrugged. "Not much. Really, just that I was the only wolf in that part of Tundratown that didn't get shot, and that someone tried to shoot at us while you guys were searching through my stuff."

"You blocked a gunshot with your stick!" exclaimed Nick. Apparently, he wanted to make a big deal out of it. "Look, until then, I'm going to say you do have a sixth sense to detect anything dangerous."

"Dumb luck," insisted Ace. "That's what I'll say until then."

"Anyway, Chief Bogo doesn't exactly like to be kept waiting for so long," interrupted Judy. "I think we should go right now, if that's fine with you."

"I can just come along," insisted Ace.

"Fine. But don't expect an explanation if the chief kicks you out."

The three headed upstairs to Bogo's office. Bogo, whose eyes were glued to his phone, instantly looked up the second he heard a knock at the door. He slammed his phone down on his desk and shut off the display.

"Come in," said Bogo.

A click, and the door flew open to reveal Judy, Nick, and Ace. Bogo didn't expect to find the wolf standing there, so his presence definitely took him by surprise.

"Oh, you're here too?" said Bogo. "Uh… could you just step outside for a moment?"

Ace complied and took a step back as Judy and Nick entered Bogo's office. The door closed between them, leaving the two cops to converse with their chief.

The first thing Bogo did was hand Nick the blue-splattered stick from last night. "Familiar?" asked Bogo.

Nick just nodded. "Someone tried to shoot us last night, and the wolf blocked it with his stick," he explained. "I don't think we can consider him a suspect, especially since he actually showed up here this morning looking for information."

Bogo took the stick back. "Very well, then." He took a seat behind his desk and continued. "I know I'm putting a lot of pressure on you two to solve this case. There are more victims—count's up to 31 now with all those wolves from last night. That's 31 Night Howler victims in a span of 2 days."

"So they're either getting less selective about their targets or…" Nick trailed off.

"Whoever's up to it this time is more active than before," finished Judy. "The first time around, it was 14 in 2 weeks and then much more later on."

"Anyway, it doesn't matter why," said Bogo, "what matters is that mammals can go savage at any time, no matter the circumstances. That's why you two need to be able to defend yourselves at any given time."

Bogo pulled out two briefcases and handed one to each of the cops. "This should do the trick for now, at least while you're on the case."

The second the cases touched their paws, Nick and Judy set them on the ground, flipped the latches down, and opened them to reveal a gun, several darts, and a few flasks containing a clear liquid. Both the bunny and the fox picked each item up and inspected them closely.

"Tranquilizer and… Night Howler antidote," observed Nick. "Huh. I was wondering when we'd get one of these."

"The best that they could get us, for now," said Bogo. "That way, you can act on the spot should someone go savage under Night Howler serum."

The officers set the equipment back in the cases and shut them. "Is that all you called us in for?" asked Judy.

Chief Bogo nodded. "I'll call you in for daily updates for the entire duration you two are on this case. Dismissed."

When Judy and Nick left Bogo's office, they found Ace leaning against a wall, waiting patiently. The wolf was able to hear everything through the door, though he decided not to mention it. It wasn't that it mattered anyway—the only thing that stood out to him was that the stick that he had turned in was inside the office.

"Okay, so can we get off now, or is there still a bit of briefing to go through before I can find out more about this?" asked Ace. The impatient tone of his voice certainly didn't match his body language.

Judy shook her head. "I think that's all," she said, "so we're ready to head off now."

"Where are you even looking to start?" asked Nick.

Their uncertainty unsettled Ace, since he was sure that the two would at least know where to start. Apparently, they didn't.

Mr. Big was an option, but the pair weren't entirely sure if he would want to be bothered with the case again, despite the fact that he had Koslov back. None of the other victims had any connection with Mr. Big, so Judy decided to cross the entirety of Tundratown off the list of options.

By the time they started talking, they were already on their way outside the building. "If we can track Weaselton, then maybe we can find out where he was initially taking the Night Howlers from," suggested Judy.

"We can't. Got anyone else?" continued Nick.

Just then Ace's phone began ringing. Upon looking at the screen, the wolf's jaw dropped. "Oh, he can't be calling me out right now, can he?" he groaned.

Nick and Judy stared at Ace. The wolf noticed that the two stopped to shoot him a look, and he promptly told them to keep planning as he accepted the incoming call.

"Hello?" said Ace.

"Wolfburne! What makes you think you can skip practice today?" a demanding voice said from the other end. "Just because you're the best on the team doesn't mean you can ditch whenever you feel like it!"

"Look, Buck, I'm kind of in a bit of a situation concerning the law right now," said Ace. "I know you probably wouldn't care, but some lunatic shot up every wolf in a section of Tundratown with a Night Howler serum, and that includes Brent. So I'm trying to find out what's going on with my wolf buddies and who's behind all this, if you know what I mean. I'll be at the center for tonight's game, don't you worry."

From the ice, Coach Buck groaned in exasperation. "Fine. Just remember you still have a job," he said. He then hung up without any further notice, and Ace stuffed his phone back into his pocket and turned back to Judy and Nick.

"You know, on second thought, Mr. Wolfburne, I think you should just go home and worry about playing hockey right now," suggested Judy.

"What? Why?"

"Well, he did sound pretty infuriated there," she justified. "I don't think you should put your job on the line just to help us out."

Ace turned to Nick to see who he would support, but the fox simply shrugged as if to say, 'I'm not taking sides.'

The wolf sighed and shook his head. "Fine."

"Look, we'll come for you in Tundratown if there's anything we need from you," said Judy. "You may be a key witness, but this is no reason to put your job on the line. Just don't get shot."

Ace nodded and reluctantly left the ZPD building, seeing that Clawhauser had already returned to his desk.

"Manchas it is," concluded Judy.

* * *

This time around, when they reached the Rainforest District, two things went differently compared to the last time they were here.

One, Mr. Manchas didn't go savage on them like last time.

Two, Mr. Manchas actually allowed everyone into his residence for more than 10 seconds. Upon the mentioning of Night Howlers, he grew uneasy and was a bit reluctant to let them in, but he still allowed them to enter anyway.

"Just… we're aware that you've probably had the ugliest experience with Night Howlers out of everyone in Zootopia, but that's why we came to you," explained Judy. "If you grow a bit too uneasy trying to answer out questions, then just tell us, and we'll be on our way."

Manchas just nodded and allowed Judy to begin asking questions.

"Do you have any recollection of what happened after you were shot with the Night Howler serum?" asked Judy.

Manchas shrugged. "Barely. When I got darted, I felt—well, it's hard for me to describe it, but it's like I'm having spasms of sorts and I just can't keep myself under control. Why… why are you only coming to me 4 months after the case?"

"New outbreaks," answered Nick. "31 reported victims so far in the past 2 days, one of which was a bunny. They got an antidote delivered to them this morning, but they had no recollection of what happened. Does Koslov ring a bell?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he was among those 31. After you, Emmitt, and Koslov, I've come to figure that… these Night Howlers really don't like Mr. Big."

"It's his network. He has so many affiliates in Zootopia to begin with. Word would spread like wildfire among us."

"So whoever it was wanted to target Koslov because…"

"He holds the highest level of authority in the network after Mr. Big himself," finished Manchas. "And he's a big polar bear. Those things can pack a punch. Terrorizing Tundratown?"

"So now we know that the whole target of this operation is Mr. Big," said Nick.

"Not yet we don't," interrupted Judy. "There's not enough evidence pointing to him being the target. But I would keep an eye on him for the time being."

"Maybe some of the other victims also have a connection to Mr. Big that we don't know of," the fox suggested.

That made Judy consider everything she remembered from reading all those profiles yesterday. They contained names and occupations. They could retrieve photos of their last sightings before the Night Howlers kicked in via the traffic cams. "Sure, we can check, but we might have to run a few plates at the DMV," she said, obviously displeased with the suggestion that they may have to mess with sloths once again. "The only problem is that took us a whole afternoon to run one!"

"Hey, but it got us somewhere," said Nick.

"Anyway," said Judy, "thanks, Manchas, for everything. We've got to go right now, though."

"Not a problem," replied the jaguar.

The two left the residence, and Nick insisted that they go to Tundratown for Mr. Big. "You see, if you just give any of the names to Mr. Big, then he can tell you if he's familiar with them or not," the wolf reasoned.

They stopped and exchanged glances. "You sure Koslov won't kill us if we do that?" asked Judy.

"No," replied Nick. "Let's do it."


	3. Nemu's Scramble

"Are you fine out there, or do I need to pull you from the rest of the game?" asked Buck.

Ace had just finished his third shift, and so far he hasn't been able to get any quality time on the ice. So far, he has been more counterproductive to his team than he had hoped, and part of his blunders included a turnover that led to the Eastern Chargers' first goal of the game against the Westside Royals.

Ever since arriving at the arena a few hours earlier, Ace just could not engage himself in the game. Whenever he attempted to focus on the situation, his mind would drift back to last night, and he would lose focus for a little while, just long enough for him to end up in a bad position or see the puck slide by.

"I'm fine, coach," said Ace. It was apparent that, despite his lackluster performance thus far, the wolf still wanted to play.

Buck just nodded, but he made sure to keep an eye on number 48 whenever he was on the ice. "Alright."

Felix Hemsky, a snow leopard, was the one sitting next to Ace and had heard the entire conversation between the two. "Think it's just because we're on the second night of a back-to-back?"

Ace knew that wasn't the reason, but he decided not to tell Felix what he had told his coach earlier that day, about the shooting last night and the Night Howlers. "That's the most logical reason why," he lied.

When Ace's next shift came, he whispered a prayer to help get his head into the game before stepping onto the ice. He spotted the puck sliding into the neutral zone from his own side, and he joined his teammates in skating into Chargers territory.

Ace managed to collect the puck off a pass intended for him, and he shook off the caribou who had attempted to poke it away.

He attempted a pass across the ice to the other forward on his team, but failed to notice a player on the opposing side skating across that lane. The puck deflected off the Eastern player's skate, and he managed to take control of the puck and begin a fast break the other way.

One of the defensemen, however, poked the puck away before he could even guide the puck into the neutral zone, and he deposited the puck behind the goal. Ace went after it and, upon reaching it, felt something slam into him with the force of a truck.

He didn't know what hit him, but he did feel himself collide with the boards and collapse on the ice. He squeezed his eyes shut instinctively, bracing for what might come next. Someone skidded to a stop next to him, and one of the officials stopped play immediately as the crowd erupted.

The glass had somehow held up through the monster hit. One of the officials picked his stick up from the ice, while a little scuffle broke out between two players on the ice; both were polar bears, one with the Royals and the other with the Chargers.

"Ow," muttered Ace as someone skated over to help him up. He felt the paw reach under his arm and pull him up as Ace attempted to plant his skates on the ice.

He still didn't know exactly who was caught in the fight, but he didn't really care either. That wasn't what he should have been concerned about—he should be focused on getting back to the bench to get looked at.

Ace shook his head and tried to loosen up a bit as an official guided him back to the bench, but that only resulted in a stumble about halfway across the ice. Once he reached the bench, he felt a sharp pinch on the side of his neck. It wasn't painful per se, but what ensued after the pinch hurt even worse than the earlier hit.

The first thing the wolf felt was a change in mind, as his ability to think rationally was stripped from him—hockey and the Night Howler case left his mind immediately, replaced with a certain urge to survive in an unfamiliar environment. He twitched as instinct took full control, and he collapsed onto all fours, half of his body still on the ice. By now, he had become the center of attention and, in panic, his team's bench cleared onto the ice to provide space for their downed teammate.

All ongoing fights on the ice stopped immediately, and the belligerents did not even bother to head to the penalty box just yet. As more people both on the ice and in the stands became aware of what was going on, more eyes flew toward Ace.

Out of nowhere, one of the polar bears on the opposing team also collapsed onto the ice, twitching similarly to Ace. There was an outcry in the crowd as several security guards began moving down, some workers already arriving from the tunnels that led to the locker rooms. All players fled to the benches, and someone kicked Ace's body back onto the ice before closing the door. Now, the only two bodies on the ice were the downed wolf and polar bear.

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"Night Howler victims at Nemu's Arena. A wolf and a polar bear," Judy heard as she and Nick drove through Tundratown. They had just finished gathering all the information they could from last night's Night Howler attack and were on their way back when the security called them.

"Nemu's Arena? Isn't that where the wolf plays?" asked Nick. "Ace Wolfburne, Westside Royals, if my memory doesn't fail me. We're near there, no?"

Suddenly, it was all clear to Judy. Another police vehicle went zooming by in front of them with its sirens blaring and lights flashing in the night. The bunny and the fox shared a look, and Nick reached over to hit their own siren. Judy stomped on the pedal and made a hard left in the direction of Nemu's Arena, following the police vehicle that had already passed.

"I told him not to get shot. Lucky us that we're already here for this!" exclaimed Judy. Nick didn't reply, and instead opted to lean back in his seat and keep his eyes on what was outside. He checked behind him to make sure the equipment that Bogo gave them was still there, and sighed upon feeling the latches of the case.

Since they didn't have directions to the arena, and because the message was relayed to every ZPD worker in Zootopia, Judy decided to follow the other police vehicle that was immediately in front of them. Whoever was driving it surely had to be headed toward the arena as well; being a cop in western Tundratown, the occupants had to be on their way to the scene.

It only took them a couple of minutes of driving for the arena to come into view, and another minute to actually reach the parking lot. With no time to argue on where to put the car, Judy immediately stopped on the side of the street, and Nick jumped into the back and opened his case before they even came to a complete stop.

They grabbed the tranquilizer guns and flasks of Night Howler antidote. Both of them rushed toward the nearest arena entrance, ducking under the bigger cops that had also answered the call to come to the arena. They didn't even bother to look back at who it was.

When they finally reached the stands, they found themselves standing around the middle deck of seats. The ice was a considerable distance away, but that didn't mean they couldn't see what was going on.

What they found was unlike anything they've ever seen whilst dealing with Night Howler victims; there was a wolf and a polar bear battling on the ice, both animals down on all fours in true savage fashion. All the other players had cleared the ice back onto the benches and just watched in fear of what might happen if they interfered.

One thing that they surely didn't miss, though, was that there was blood on the ice. By now, it was obvious that the wolf and the polar bear were the two Night Howler victims. The culprit was most likely long gone by now.

"You think you're a good enough shot from up here?" asked Nick, aiming down at the ice. He pulled the gun back upon failing to get a good look at either of them.

"Not with them moving around that much," said Judy.

The wolf lunged right at the polar bear, and the two clawed at each other for a moment before one of them went sliding away from the other on the ice. When one of the players attempted to step onto the ice, the wolf's head snapped toward that player in warning.

"Talk about territorial," Judy observed, "he doesn't want anyone on his ice. At least it's a good thing he's not attacking anyone else."

Nick and Judy moved back in an attempt to get a better look at the two belligerents, aiming to reach the ice before anything happens. It took a bit of running around for them to find a stairwell down.

The pair found themselves in the tunnels that led to the locker rooms—perhaps a bit too low for their preference, but at least it was better than trying to shoot from the middle deck. That meant they could get to the benches from here.

Remembering where the benches were, they took off down the tunnels, sticking to the left and dodging all the staff members in the area. Eventually, they came to an opening, and a single glance out showed them the rink and the ongoing fight between the wolf and the polar bear.

The two rushed out onto the Royals bench and perched themselves atop the barrier between the bench and the ice. From here, it was easy to get a good look at both of them.

Judy elected to take the polar bear, while Nick aimed at the wolf. Both of them were able to hit their designated targets without much effort, though they did not immediately jump onto the ice when they saw the darts hit the victims.

Chief Bogo arrived at the bench about a minute later—was he the one in the car ahead of him?

"Man, you sure have a knack for being at the right place at the right time," commented Nick.

"Shut it, Wilde," said Bogo. Apparently, he wasn't in the mood for any silly remarks right now.

Both the wolf and the polar bear began to slow down as they gradually grew woozier. That meant the darts were doing their work. Soon, it would be safe to handle the two.

Bogo took it upon himself to explain everything to the officials, the Royals coach, and the players. After a while, he was able to step onto the ice and talk it over with the other bench, though he did slip around a bit.

After another few minutes, both the wolf and the polar bear were motionless. Judy and Nick deemed it safe to step onto the ice, though they were unsure if either them were still awake. After a bit of adapting to the surface, they were able to stand and walk on the ice without falling down every few seconds.

Now they were standing right next to the wolf, and he didn't respond. They exchanged glances, and Nick shrugged as he reached for his flask of antidote.

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"Urgh…"

Ace didn't know where he was, and he didn't care that his clothes were torn when he woke up. He just felt _groggy_ and did not want to get up at all. It felt worse than a Monday morning!

"Look. He's finally getting up," said the still unfamiliar voice of Chief Bogo. "That's my cue to leave and let you two handle it from here."

A door in the room opened and closed, and all the while Ace heard some heavy footsteps moving, fading away as time passed. He opened his eyes slightly to find himself staring straight at a ceiling light.

Squinting, he began to roll to the left a little, but he ended up taking a nasty fall to the floor from atop the locker room bench. The sudden jolt woke him up a bit more, though he still felt sore from earlier.

"Alright, that's enough," said Nick as he approached the wolf. His attempts to lift him to a sitting position proved futile, as Ace was just too big for Nick to handle. "Get up, you big baby."

"Hurgh… I'm 22," Ace slurred. He pushed himself up with one arm to see his own cubby in the locker room, which was decorated with a torn jersey, a broken stick, and his skates.

"That's pretty young for the GOAT, won't you say?" continued Nick.

Ace swung around a bit before leaning on the bench that he had just fallen off. "Argh. I'm no goat; I'm a wolf. I think you should get your eyes checked."

Nick decided to keep messing with him, since there were no urgent matters at the moment. "Sir, are you drunk?"

The wolf shook his head in an attempt to recuperate and clear his head of the fog, and it worked to a point. "Ugh. I'm _so_ tired right now," he confessed. He finally decided to call attention to the torn jersey and broken stick in his cubby. "What happened here? Locker room tirade that I don't remember and they stuffed all the evidence in my spot?"

Nick and Judy shared a look. "No," said Judy. "I thought I told you not to get shot."

Ace yawned. "What do I remember from tonight? I know I kind of took a big hit from a polar bear and fell over on my way to the bench… blood?"

The fox in the room decided that it would be better to show him rather than tell him. He pulled out his phone and searched for a video of tonight's incident. Surely, with how quickly people worked on the internet these days, there would already be a video posted.

"Ah, here," said Nick, "upper decker took this one. Potato quality, but whatever." He beckoned at Ace to come over and view the small screen.

The only thing Ace saw was his trip to the bench, and then his subsequent collapse. Since the person who had filmed this was at the upper deck, there was a view of the entire ice, and therefore Ace was able to see the other polar bear that went down on the ice. Nick kept the volume off for the entirety of the video.

"Potato quality is right," said Ace. "I can barely tell what's going on. So what happened exactly?"

Nick forwarded the video to the main fight between him and the polar bear. It was preceded by a scramble by all the other skaters toward the bench. The two figures exchanged occasional hits, but mostly drifted away from each other due to the ice. Then the video cut off right there.

"What are you saying here?"

"Oh, come on, wolf! Don't you get it?" exclaimed an exasperated Nick Wilde. "Maybe you're still a bit too groggy to figure everything out, but you've got two unfamiliar things in your system right now."

Ace reached up to his neck and rubbed it, and then proceeded to hit his shin—the place where the tranquilizer dart had hit him—in an attempt to wake up. "That would be…"

"One, and don't panic when I say the first one, but one is Night Howler," stated Nick. He didn't even bother to see Ace's reaction before continuing. "The second is the Night Howler antidote."

Ace's tense face suddenly relaxed when he found out that he had already received the antidote. That meant there was nothing for him to worry about, right?

"Still doesn't explain my extreme sleepiness right now—usually, I'm able to get up in a matter of seconds," complained Ace.

"Well, there had to be some way to subdue you, right? Otherwise, you would have torn apart anyone who came near you," explained Nick.

"Then it's not two things," stated Ace.

"Fine. Make it three—whatever's in that tranquilizer."

"What about the game?" asked Ace.

Judy and Nick shared another look. _The game_ was what he was caring about, even after getting shot with both a Night Howler serum _and_ a tranquilizer? Sure, he had sustained no physical injuries except for a few cuts from the fight with the polar bear who was also under the effects of Night Howlers, but the duo just found it strange that he would care that much about the game. To them, it was just a hockey game—it wasn't even the playoffs!

"Um… well, the league talked it over at Central," started Nick.

Judy opted to finish for him. "They've postponed the game and have yet to reschedule it," she said. "The last of your team left just about ten minutes ago."

"And… so if I got the antidote already, then that means my brother also got it too?" asked Ace.

"Yeah. This morning before you came over, all the Night Howler victims got the antidote. I'm not sure where they are right now—probably headed home some time," explained Judy. "What's your brother's name?"

Ace started to feel a bit better as the effects of the tranquilizer gradually wore off. It was subtle, but he could tell that it was better than when he had just woken up. He stood up and headed over to his locker to retrieve the torn jersey and his helmet.

"Brent," the wolf answered.

"So, Brent Wolfburne, huh?" said Judy, scribbling down the name. "Alright. I think it's getting late. Get dressed, clean yourself, head home, get some rest, you know, the usual. Go to practice tomorrow, keep going to every scheduled practice and all the games. We'll call Coach Buck if we ever need to pull you for any reason."

"Sounds good," said Ace. "Later, then."

Judy left the locker room, and Nick gave the wolf one last wave before he followed Judy out of the room, through the tunnels, up the stairs, and out of Nemu's Arena. At this point, Ace appeared to be the only one left in the building, though he doubted he was alone. Usually, there were always janitors in the stands and tunnels cleaning up the arena in preparation for the next game.

Ace inspected his torn jersey and deemed it still wearable, so he decided to toss it to the side before taking a quick shower. It was a bit strange, cleaning up with no one else in the room, so he hurried himself.

After he was dressed, he left the locker room with nothing but the broken stick and his phone. The tunnels were empty, so he jogged to the stairs and ran straight up, skipping every other step. The entrance was also empty.

Ace left the arena and, unlike last night, he was able to reach his house without someone with Night Howlers interrupting him. He set the broken stick down on the nearest table, now covered in snow since he had dropped it during the trek.

He changed again and, unable to do anything else for the rest of the night, passed out in less than ten minutes. That night, he slept with no interruptions.


	4. Gone Quiet

An entire week passed since the malice at Nemu's Arena. When the shooting occurred on the ice, Ace and the polar bear were only the 32nd and 33rd victims to fall to Night Howlers.

The number of Night Howler victims was stuck there. It was as if the culprit, whoever it may have been, suddenly disappeared from the world. In a span of three days, there were a total of 33 Night Howler victims; since then, there have been none.

This trend baffled Judy and Nick, who just couldn't seem to find any connections between all the victims. One of them was a bunny, while the seven victims that all came after that were all wolves.

For Ace, after recovering from the Night Howlers, the season just continued without stoppage. He had ended up playing his next game only two days after falling victim to Night Howlers, and the postponed game had already been rescheduled.

Judy and Nick still had access to the wolf as a resource if they ever needed him, but they never appeared before him. The duo did spend the majority of their time investigating in Tundratown, since that was where the most recent and outstanding outbreaks occurred. Meanwhile, Chief Bogo decided to put more mammals on the case to cover other parts of the city.

"Right, so that clears up Mr. Timber," said Nick, scratching the mentioned name off the list on his notepad. He flipped to a separate page and jotted down everything he had told them.

"Who's next?"

"Okay, last wolf on the list," said Nick as he continued flipping through his notes. "Brent Wolfburne. Elder brother of Ace Wolfburne. I do remember the kid mentioned his brother was a victim of that initial attack in Tundratown."

Judy brightened up. "Great! What does he do? Hockey like his little brother?" Only Nick had read Brent's profile, so Judy didn't know anything about Brent except for a single relative.

"Nope. He works a fish stall at a market in the far west portion of Tundratown."

The car door flew open, and before he could blink, Nick found Judy sitting in the driver's seat. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get going now!"

Nick held an indifferent face for the entire duration of the drive to western Tundratown. In fact, he rarely ever looked up from his notepad, as he continued to scribble down letters with his pen.

He reviewed every piece of information they had gathered in the past few days, focusing on one factor: the location each victim was shot. If they could observe the locations they were shot at the time of the shooting, then they could possibly latch onto a possible suspect.

"Is this the last one?" asked Judy as she pulled up near the market in question.

Nick nodded. "Yep. Then after this it's time to sit at traffic cams for hours on end, watching all the week-old feedback to find something."

"Sounds like a whole lot of fun."

"Sure does."

The duo jumped out of the car and started browsing around the outdoor market for a fish stall with a wolf standing behind it. They didn't know exactly where it was; they only knew what to look for.

"Who thinks to put an outdoor market in _Tundratown_ of all the places?" asks Nick.

"Eh, let them live like that—they've been at it their entire lives. The cold never seemed to bother them anyway, and if it ever did," Judy pointed at a nearby stairwell, "I'm sure there are heaters in the enclosed areas of this place."

Nick just shrugged at the response he received, and then he overheard a somewhat familiar voice nearby. It sounded slightly upset, though Nick wasn't sure if he should believe the tone of his voice.

"Look, buddy, okay. I know we're still both upset about the entire upheaval from last week. So I'll exploit the benefit I get for being a fish vendor's brother, take five, and then I'll be on my merry way back home to help the Royals on their path to the cup."

There was laughter in response to those words. "Royals aren't winning this year, you pup!" another voice teased.

Nick and Judy turned a corner to find Ace Wolfburne at a fish stall chatting with a wolf on the other side. From Ace's words and since everything else fell into place, both Judy and Nick derived a conclusion right away and determined the other wolf to be Brent, Ace's brother.

"Ah, then comes the obligatory 'pup' insult every time we talk," said Ace. "Who's the athlete in the family? And since when are you a warriors fan?"

"Well, I _am_ six years your elder. And I am _not_ a warriors fan."

"You see, that's weird," said Ace as his brother handed him a plastic bag filled with fish. "Because when I look at the records of all the hockey game's you've been to, they're all warriors games against _different teams_ , which, logically, makes you a warriors fan."

"Tell that to me when you get traded to them." Brent went on to attempt to start a howl.

His attempt left Ace unfazed and unamused. "Stop. The moon's not even out yet." He reached over the counter and pushed his brother a bit to interrupt him.

"Excuse me!" Judy intervened.

The sudden outburst caught Ace's attention, forcing him to look away from his brother for a moment. Brent had to peer over the counter to see exactly who it was.

"Ah, hey! It's little cop duo!" said Ace ardently. "What brings you two here?"

"Our job," said Nick.

"Funny."

Ace turned to Brent before Judy and Nick could introduce themselves to the fish vendor. "Anyway, these are the two cops I met that night when you were busy tearing up Tundratown," he said. "They…" he turned to Judy and Nick, "ah, you want me to give him the full details of the case you two are on, or is it not ready for disclosure just yet?"

"Just let us explain it," said Judy. She hopped onto the counter so that she could meet the two wolves at eye level. Nick climbed up after her.

Brent was still confused, so he and Ace exchanged looks. Ace simply shrugged and waited as the bunny pulled out a folder, a notepad, and a carrot pen.

"Okay, anyway," said Judy, calling everyone else's attention.

She started off with a photo of Brent. "You fell victim to a Night Howler serum last week, as far as we're concerned. On your way out, you were asked if you remembered anything from the aftermath, but now I'm here to ask you: What do remember about what happened before your mind blanked out?"

The older wolf frowned and continued to stare at his brother as if asking for assistance. "What, am I supposed to answer her or…"

"Just answer the question!" groaned Ace.

"Okay, fine. I was on my way home from a game at the Great Western Forum, and—"

" _Warriors fan!_ " Ace laughed.

"Shut up," Brent growled. "Anyway, I pull up to my house, step out, and then I hear a gunshot. Next thing that happens, I wake up _restrained_ and _muzzled_ for a few minutes before someone comes in and releases me. Then a short interrogation, and them I'm homebound."

"Ouch. Glad I never I never went through the restraining part with a muzzle," commented Ace.

Judy scribbled down a few notes. "You can't say anything, since you actually went through restraining via a tranquilizer and didn't stay knocked out for hours. You sounded _drunk_ when you woke up."

A hopeful smile crossed Brent's muzzle. "Ha, did you really?" he nearly laughed.

Ace, suddenly on the receiving end of the banter, leaned back against the nearest wall, crossed his arms, and rolled his eyes.

"That's a yes," said Nick. "I almost convinced him he was a goat."

"You did not. You called me one, though, if you consider that close enough," mentioned Ace.

"Okay, but back to the point, Wolfburne," intervened Judy. "So you were in your driveway when you got hit?"

Because he remembered nothing after stepping out of his car at his house, that was what Brent went with. "I guess so. That's the last thing I remember."

Judy scribbled that down. "Alright." She pointed her carrot pen at Ace. "And we've already got you down, so… is that all?" She asked, turning her head toward Nick.

"Huh? Yeah."

"Alright." Judy stashed her pen away. "Thanks, you two, for being able to cooperate long enough." She turned to Ace. "Are you fine if we ever need to call you up in the case that we need anything more from you?"

Ace just shrugged. "Sure, I guess. I can find room in my schedule if you need it."

Brent gave him a slightly hurt look. "Aw, what, nothing I can do?"

Without even looking, Ace reached out and covered Brent's muzzle. "Although I would really prefer that you look at my team's schedule and find time slots in which I can come in, I think the league will understand if I have to miss a game for the purpose of assisting the ZPD. Other than that, I'll be seeing you two later if you ever need me."

Judy nodded, and the cop duo disappeared around a corner about five seconds later. That was when Ace released Brent.

Brent grimaced and brought a paw up to his now sore muzzle. "Ow. Was that really necessary?"

"Yes."

* * *

"So was that really necessary?" asked Nick as the two jumped out of the car upon arriving at the ZPD.

"Was what really necessary?"

"The whole asking the wolf for help thing. Do we _really_ need him behind our backs on this case?"

"Well, it's nice to know we have someone on the _receiving_ end of these attacks to refer to if we ever run ourselves into a wall," explained Judy. "Plus, he knows the most about this case out of any other citizen in Zootopia, save for the higher-ups."

Nick just shrugged and leaned back. "Alright, then. Whatever you say."

From there, the two continued in silence. It was cloudy that day, so it did not surprise either of them when the rain commenced. Despite the artificial climates in Zootopia, the weather was one thing that could not be controlled.

They hurried inside and went on to view the traffic cam feed, Judy flipping through her notes of all the victims. "Alright, so our first mammal to watch would be… let's start in Savanna Central. It's easy to see things there, unlike someplace called the Rainforest District."

Judy selected the exact location of the incident, according to what the victim said, and searched for the feed from the week before. It took a bit of searching, even with an exact time to search for, but they came up with the feed eventually.

The first thing they observed was a leopard wandering around the streets in broad daylight. That was what they were searching for, since the victim they were looking to watch was a leopard. She surveyed the area around herself before continuing on her path with her eyes on her phone. There were a few bystanders around her, but not many.

That was when she recoiled suddenly and dropped her phone. Nick and Judy watched the entire process—struggling for control, dropping to all fours, and the initial lash out at the nearest thing that moved. Then the scramble as everyone fled the area.

"Nothing odd," said Nick. "Why'd we think we'd find the shooter on the cameras?"

Judy kept her eyes glued to the screen as she paused the feed. "We didn't. I said we should have done this because we might notice some trends. We're still looking for connections between all the victims."

She resumed, and then watched the same event unfold again, but this time from a different angle. At first, she noted everything she saw—every car, every animal, everything that moved.

"You know, if I wanted to get rid of all the differences right away," started Nick as he took control, "then I would go crosstown to…" Nick paused as he selected another camera to view from, "ah, here it is. Our favorite place forever and ever because you can't see anything, the Rainforest District. Last week, observing… another big cat. Wow. Okay. Whatever this thing wants to throw at me."

Judy ignored Nick's monologuing and watched through the given feed, this one involving a tiger. She often had to switch between cameras in order to keep a view of the target. Again she started to jot down notes of basically everything she saw.

The entire scene played out similarly to how it turned out with the leopard in Savanna Central—the only twist was that this one came with the danger of falling several stories to the bottom of the Rainforest District.

"Alright, I've got everything from those two," said Judy, tearing out the pages. She set the two side by side to search for similarities between the two incidents.

"So we've got animals present. Nothing seems _that_ far off here," said Judy. "I mean, we've got everyone where they should be. There isn't, like, a zebra in the rainforest, so I think we can scratch that off for now."

"What else do you have jotted down there? The cars?" asked Nick. "With plates too!"

Judy smirked. "Surprised about that?" She went on to underline a certain plate number that managed to appear on both sheets: W532RN.

A wide grin emerged on Nick's face. "Ah!"

The two exchanged a quick fist bump. "Boom," said Judy.

"So what's the plan now? We sticking here for another few hours or are we running to the DMV?"

It took a moment of thinking for Judy; which would be faster? Is it easier to just sit through hours of tapes tracking a single car, or is it quicker to run to the DMV and wait for a bunch of sloths to do their job?

"Uh… I think we should just track the thing ourselves on the cams," said Judy. "It's likely faster _and_ less boring that way."

"So, ditching the DMV it is. Okay."

The duo settled where they were; if they were efficient enough, they could possibly get through all the cam footage within the day. If not, though, then they could always stay after hours or resume working the next day.

Judy started by reviewing the feed that was currently pulled up, of the tiger, interested in his reaction to the shot. She studied the cat's movement from the moment of the shot up to the loss of control. "Alright, alright. Let's see here…"

She switched cameras to reveal the vehicle they were interested in. "There it is. W532RN. The door's open, too."

The two remained vigilant as they observed the vehicle, looking for anything to start moving. At first, there was nothing, but Judy had the feed from the other cameras pulled up on a separate screen. She kept her eyes on both the going-savage tiger and the car.

By now, it had been a few seconds since the shooting of the tiger. The duo watched as something moved on screen, and then the car door closed before driving off.

"Hold on," intervened Nick. He took control and backed up a few seconds, up to the moment just before the door closed.

Then he paused the feed. On the other screens, the footage of the ongoing chaos in the Rainforest District was frozen. But that wasn't what he was interested in.

"There's our suspect," said Nick as he pointed at a figure in the bottom-right corner of the screen. It was extremely difficult to notice, since it was in the corner, but it was there.

"And it looks like…" Judy jotted down a quick note, "we're going to have to deal with more wolves."

"Ugh, wonder," said Nick. "More howling to deal with."

Judy closed the current window and, in order to verify, switched over to the Tundratown feed from the week before, where the wolfpack incident occurred. "Talk about wolves right now—have you seen the kid howl like, ever?"

"Who? Wolfburne?" asked Nick.

"Yeah, him, the hockey guy. He doesn't howl, does he?"

"Oh, I'm sure he does. We just haven't been around him long enough."

They observed the feed from last week, spotting themselves and Ace only several meters away from each other. There were just several obstacles obstructing their views, which was why the figures on screen didn't notice each other yet.

The other cameras in the area managed to catch everything else that was going on. All the wolves in the area, except for Ace, of course, just seemed to either appear out of nowhere or drop down after a bit of struggling. Then they gradually drifted toward the spot that Judy, Nick, and Ace were all at.

When the wolf jumped Ace out of nowhere, Judy paused the video and enlarged the feed from one of the other cameras. Sure enough, there was a vehicle right there, and the license plate was a perfect match: W532RN.

"I think we can confirm that," said Nick. "Now's just to find out where they've been going."

He closed the current feed; the video was paused at the part where Ace was using his stick in a struggle with a savage wolf. Then Nick went on to track the car as it moved across Tundratown, changing cameras correspondingly.

The vehicle, which Judy and Nick assumed was full of wolves, came to one of the tunnels that separated Tundratown from the Rainforest District. They continued to track the vehicle, double-checking all the alternate routes to make sure they didn't lose it.

It emerged from the regular exit from the Rainforest District, showing no signs of stopping any time soon. If anything, the car seemed to pick up a little bit of speed as it zoomed straight past the Rainforest District. No stops to take care of any targets—no surprise, since Ace was the only Night Howler case since the wolfpack incident.

Not long after, the two watched as the car entered another tunnel. They continued to track it through the passage, and it emerged out of the northwest side of Zootopia—outside the Rainforest District and headed out of town.

They could only track them for so long before the string of cameras ended. From there, they could no longer track the vehicle to find out where it came from. Who knew all the roads outside the city?

"Goodbye," said Nick as the two watched the vehicle disappear from view.

Then the feed ended. There were no voices speaking—just the sound of Judy's pen scratching the paper. She glanced up to find the screen showing the feed from about a minute after the vehicle left Zootopia. Needless to say, there was nothing going on—only the timer showed them that it wasn't paused. "Is that it? It doesn't go further?"

Nick shook his head. "Nope. Checked all the other spots too. They're gone."

"Alright, then let's think. We can run the plate, or we can annoy Wolfburne a bit more if it's already past the blizzard. Your call."

"It's night," said Nick. "I'm not going to stay up all night to run a plate, and it's game night for woof. Not such an urgent matter yet, but… mm…"

"Indecisive," mentioned Judy.

"Alright. Nemu's it is."


	5. Piecing Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hockey/sports terminology ahead, so I'll clear things up if you don't know what each thing means.
> 
> W: Win
> 
> OTW: Overtime Win
> 
> SOW: Shootout Win
> 
> L: Loss
> 
> OTL: Overtime Loss
> 
> SOW: Shootout Loss
> 
> PPD: Postponed
> 
> #-#-#: Wins-Regulation Losses-Overtime/Shootout Losses

 

"Alright, what's the turnout for tonight?" asked Ace.

"We tack on another two points," explained Felix as he took off his skates in the locker room. "Our home stand final results are OTL-OTW-PPD-W-SOW-SOL-W. In all, four wins, two losses, one postponed. Pretty nice results for a seven game home stand."

"That's nine points from the past two weeks," said Ace. "Pretty good, since we technically haven't finished one of those games yet."

Felix scoffed. "Yeah, because someone…"

Ace took off his skates. "It's not my fault! It was whoever forced 33 mammals to go savage. I can't help it if I'm a target."

"Anyway, we still don't have any wiggle room in the standings," continued Felix. "West Lookout is at the top of their division, but we still don't play them for another few months. On our side, though, Central was eight points back when we started our home stand. Now, they're six points back. Also, it doesn't help that we lost to them in overtime to start the home stand."

"Again, they would probably be eight back from us if that game against Eastside actually finished."

"On the second night of a back-to-back, and also a night when you don't have your mojo? We're down one goal in less than five minutes. They resume the game with 12:33 left in the first period, down one goal," explained the snow leopard.

The wolf shrugged. "Then we play that game. I know I'm not going to be slacking off before it."

Ace refused to mention the entire Night Howler case. He knew that he had a job to do, and that was to lead the Westside Royals to the Zootopia Hockey League championship—possibly earn a chance to play internationally, if he's lucky. While a case with the ZPD certainly wouldn't place his career in jeopardy, his team may have to face a playoff run without their most valuable player.

That put a lot of stress on Ace, and he couldn't let his mind drift away from that topic. There was everything wrong with the Night Howler case—first, his brother, as irritating as he may be, was attacked and attempted to kill him that was night. Second, Ace was attacked _during a game,_ yet the security somehow couldn't even apprehend the culprit before he or she escaped.

"Anyway we're on the road tomorrow," said Felix.

Soon, the locker room was empty. Ace always had a tendency to be the last one out of the locker room, so he was usually the one to lock up the place at night. He would even stay after Coach Buck left the arena for the night.

The entire time, Ace could not take his mind off the ongoing Night Howler case. He grew awfully concerned about Brent and the other wolves in Tundratown, though he didn't expect any attacks tonight since there have been none in the past week.

It was only coming to him now because he didn't have a hockey game to distract him. Obviously, he had been able to set the topic aside for the sake of hockey the past few games, but once the games were over, his min went straight back to the case.

When Ace left the arena, he knew it would be a long walk home. A long walk in which he would have nothing to think about except the case, and how he can't do anything about it right now since the bunny and the fox have yet to find any additional clues.

So he didn't even go anywhere—he just stopped outside the arena. It wasn't snowing anymore, so the sky was clear, though light pollution prevented him from seeing the stars. It didn't obliterate the night sky completely, though.

"ARH-WOOOOOOOO!"

Nick just smirked from the cop car. They were waiting outside the arena, and had opted to stay inside the car for the sake of staying warm. It was snowing a bit, but it wasn't the blizzard that passed through the western part of Tundratown earlier that day.

"Ah, so I told you he can howl," said Nick, poking at Judy. " _Every_ wolf howls, whether we like it like that or not, it happens." Nick then grimaced. "I'm not even sure if _they_ know why they howl."

"Whatever," replied Judy. "Let's go."

The duo jumped out of the car and headed straight toward the howling wolf, finding that he had set his gear down behind him.

"Hello!" Judy called when they were next to the howling wolf.

Ace stopped. He took a moment to recollect himself, suddenly embarrassed that someone caught him howling. "Bleh." Then he looked down to find the faces of the bunny and the fox staring up at him. "Oh, hey. I didn't expect you two to be back here so soon."

"Hi again," said Judy. "Need a ride home?"

Seeing that the police car was the only vehicle in the parking lot, Ace didn't know what to say. The entire area had been cleared hours ago, since all the players, coaches, and spectators from tonight's game had already left. "Sure, I guess," he sputtered out, picking up his gear.

He got in the car, assuming they had come back to him because they were looking for more answers. He didn't know what to tell them, though—he already told them everything he knew about the incident! What more was there to talk about?

It was warm and cozy in the back seat, with all the space to himself and the heater turned up to the max. He leaned back in his own seat, and Judy settled in the driver's seat before they started moving.

"Alright. What do you need me to answer for you guys this time?" asked Ace as they took a turn away from the arena. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

Judy handed him a photo taken from the security cameras a week ago—the same camera from which they watched the wolf climb into the car in the rainforest district. It was zoomed in so that Ace wouldn't get confused with any of the other entities present in the photo. "You know this guy?"

Ace had to squint at the photo in an attempt to recognize the wolf in question, but he shook his head and handed the photo back to Judy. "Nope. What's so special about this particular wolf?"

"We went through the recordings of last week's attacks and we saw his car appear nearby every single one of them. Clear suspect," said Judy.

"Can I see the car?"

Nick ended up shoving another photo into Ace's face, and he reached up and turned on the light inside the car so that Ace could see better. Judy pulled over and stopped while Ace inspected it.

"Plate W532RN," said Nick.

The wolf took a closer look at the car's plate. "Owner isn't even from Zootopia. He's from the greater area, but not the city itself," said Ace, handing the photo back to Nick.

"Wait, what? Really?" Nick snatched the photo back and inspected the plate on the car. In about five seconds, he was leaning back in his seat, staring up at the roof. "Okay. Missed details. That's a first."

From there, Ace figured that he was done answering questions. He relaxed and simply enjoyed the fact that he was being given a lift home rather than having to walk through the cold. Nick turned the lights off, and Judy got them moving again.

"So how's your season been?" asked Nick.

"We just finished off our home stand 4-0-2 with a postponed game. I'm sure we all know which one that is."

Nick gritted his teeth. "Right. And you were back on the ice for the next game?"

Ace flexed from the back seat. "I'm a hockey player. I'm supposed to be tough," he laughed. "No, but in all seriousness, I wasn't injured or anything. If the trainers and everyone see that I'm fit to play, then I'm playing."

The fox nodded. "I see how it is. How long is your season?"

"58 games from October to March," answered Ace. "I think we're through, like, 23 or something. We have one in… I believe Northwest tomorrow."

"Ah."

"Take a left here," said Ace, and Judy did exactly as he instructed. Pretty soon, they were driving through a much less busy Tundratown neighborhood, surrounded by residences. Some had their lights on while others were already sound asleep.

"And now stop here," the wolf instructed. He picked up his gear and left the car. "Am I going to have to miss anything tomorrow?"

"Probably not tomorrow, but we will have to pull you eventually," answered Judy.

"Alright." Ace shut the door and headed up to his porch to watch the bunny and the fox drive away. Once they were out of sight, he entered his house.

* * *

The next morning, Judy was up at the ZPD early. She started to think more about what she and Nick knew about the case, just so she could narrow down their options. Right now, their options were to either follow the wolf more, travel around outside Zootopia in hopes of finding the suspect's hideout, or simply sit back and allow everything to unfold for a bit longer.

Judy was not pleased with any of those. Even though their wolf knew the most about the case out of all the civilians, he didn't know everything. If he couldn't identify the wolf suspect, then chances are that no one could. If they traveled around outside Zootopia, the chances of finding anything interesting were next to none; there's just too much area to cover. If they just allowed everything to unfold, then that would cause more of an uproar within the general public.

"Alright, _Midnicampum holicithias,_ " muttered Judy.

All it took was one article that didn't relate to the current case at hand. It took her a bit to fish through all the results related to the attack from a week ago, many people calling it a 'miracle' that nobody was seriously injured.

She managed to reach every bit of information relating to the flowers themselves. First of all, there were the obvious effects of Night Howler ingestion, but that wasn't the part she was interested in.

Judy was interested in where it grew. Specifically, areas outside Zootopia to the north. That would at least let her narrow down the area to explore a little bit.

To her pleasure, she ended up finding more than what she had been looking for. Despite the immense regulations on growing Night Howlers within Zootopia, there were no laws that limited the production of Night Howlers outside. That meant that so long as you had the land, you could grow them to your heart's content.

Of course, there was no better source of Night Howler experience than the rest of her family; her parents, her hundreds of brothers and sisters, not to mention cousins, if all accounted for, could number somewhere in the thousands.

Then again, it wasn't the most practical way to acquire Night Howlers. For one thing, there are many florists, one of which she knows personally, working around Zootopia and handling Night Howlers. But the thing was that she didn't know if they had anything to do with the case. She didn't want anyone to get involved when they shouldn't—that would just create more targets for the suspect and make the case more difficult to solve with the public on her back.

From that point, she didn't know what to do, and neither did Nick. There were no more leads for her to use in order to come closer to solving the case. Right now, the only option was to go run the plate.

Nick walked in right when Judy had anticipated his entrance, just five minutes before he was supposed to check in. He frowned upon seeing that Judy was already inside. "Alright, so, bullpen?"

The two headed there without a response from Judy, taking their usual seats in the front row. They knew that they wouldn't be spending much time inside, that Bogo would just give them a quick rundown on their progress on the case and then release them.

Bogo quieted the room immediately. "One thing, then you can go," he said.

This time around, there was no quirky comment coming from Nick. He had a habit of dropping smart aleck remarks in the bullpen room, much to the dismay of Chief Bogo. It wasn't like the chief ever got onto him for a long period of time whenever he did it—just the obligatory 'shut up' and then he was back on track.

Even Bogo had anticipated it this time, and when Nick opted to remain silent, he continued on to the explanation period. "We have totaled _zero_ attacks this past week. I have come to believe that they have gone quiet for the time being, though an unknown party may have apprehended our suspects. If so, props to them. But regardless of what really happened, we must remain sharp until we get confirmation. That being said, I will have several of you laying off from the case until further notice."

He then proceeded to hand out assignments to everyone in the room, one group at a time. While some returned to their usual posts around Zootopia hunting for the suspect, others received different assignments that were more urgent at the moment.

"Hopps, Wilde," he turned to the last two officers in the room, "I have put my complete trust in you two to be the frontrunners of this investigation," he said in a stern voice.

Both of them began to feel chills. The two exchanged glances, both looking slightly anxious about what Bogo was about to say. From his tone, it certainly wasn't going to be good news.

"I want to believe that you two have at least made some progress toward finding our culprit. Can I do that?"

Judy put on a more serious face and faced Chief Bogo. She nodded and began explaining everything they had found so far. "We reviewed the traffic cam feed from last week. We came to suspect that the culprit drives a mustang car with the license plate number W532RN."

Bogo's expression did not change, but he nodded at the two. "Good. I will run the plate. In the meantime, Skunk Pride Parade."

Then he left the room, leaving Judy and Nick to themselves. "Okay," said Nick. "I guess we just wait until he gets back from running the plate."

Judy agreed with him. "But I found out something important, that there are no regulations on the growth of Night Howlers outside Zootopia."

"So?"

"So it makes sense why they headed out of town," concluded Judy. "Whoever was attacking the city with them is growing them outside of town. If you tried to acquire that many Night Howlers from inside the city, be it through growing, buying, or stealing, we would have known. The guy's getting Night Howlers from _outside_ the city. But why is something we still don't know."

"No matter why!" said Nick. "Plate W532RN. Once Bogo runs the thing and finds out that it's from out of town, we should presumably be home free. We catch the guy, then the 'why' factor comes along with it. All it takes is a few questions."

"Alright," said Judy. "In the meantime, Skunk Pride Parade."

* * *

By the time Judy and Nick returned to the ZPD building per a call from Bogo, it was about noon. The two weren't sure why it took so long; anyone, specifically Bogo, should be able to run a plate quicker than that. That led Judy to believe that Bogo just wanted to hold them off from the case for a few hours by assigning them to the parade.

But now that their little break from the case is over, it was back to the case. When they met Bogo in the foyer at the ZPD, he was holding a slip of paper containing information on the car in question.

Judy took the slip, and Bogo left to his office without a word. She noticed that Bogo had jotted down a few notes on the paper.

She read the contents to Nick. "Axis Car Rental in Hambark," she said. "Owner unstated, but Bogo threw down a few notes. Says the town is 130 miles away, and that its population is mostly wolves and coyotes."

Nick shrugged. "Alright, no surprise." He took the slip in his paws and read every little detail on the thing.

"So, you coming or not?"

Her voice caught Nick by surprise, since the fox was so immersed in reading everything that was on the slip. Judy was already standing at the door, waiting somewhat impatiently for Nick to finally come over so they could leave.

Nick nodded and started over to her. "Alright, alright, alright."

Once the two were in the car, Judy took the time to use her phone's GPS to create a route to the supposed canid town. She mounted her phone on the dash as it searched for a route, and eventually one came up on the map.

They would have to take an exit through the Rainforest District, straight north up to a fork in the road—one route heading northeast and the other to the west. The navigator said that Hambark was to the west, and the road that led to it headed in that direction for about a hundred miles before reaching the town.

In all, the route was exactly 132 miles; Chief Bogo rounded that to 130. The estimated time to get there was about 157 minutes if they could beat the traffic. If they did have to deal with traffic to get out of Zootopia, then it could take up to 190 minutes to get there.

Once the route was traced, Judy didn't waste any time and immediately pulled out of the parking lot.


End file.
